Laptop smashed and TVs damaged in Bowen Hall, investigation ongoing

A laptop was “deliberately smashed,” two large TV monitors were “vandalized and destroyed,” and an office monitor was damaged in Bowen Hall on Sunday, according to an email sent to faculty, staff, and students who work in Bowen by executive director of the Princeton Materials Institute (PMI) Alex Norman.

The incident occurred between 7:30 and 9 a.m. and was reported to the Department of Public Safety (PSafe) at 9:12 a.m. that same day, according to PSafe’s daily crime log. Multiple sources close to the matter said that a PSafe investigation was still ongoing as of Monday.  

“These items have been reported to public safety accordingly,” Norman wrote in the email to Bowen researchers. “We will be working with them further in this matter.” 

Norman did not respond to requests for comment, and PSafe associate director Bryant R. Blount ’08 declined to comment on the matter. Multiple researchers working in Bowen declined requests for comment, citing an ongoing PSafe investigation and, in one case, a fear of retaliation from the perpetrator. 

“It kind of seemed like the person — whoever did this — knew what they were doing to some extent,” Shu Hayashi, a postdoctoral research associate at PMI, told The Daily Princetonian. “They knew the layout, which is kind of odd,” Hayashi added, noting that the building is located in “a very small and concealed environment.” 

The incident is the latest in a string of thefts in and around Bowen, multiple researchers with experience working in the building said. This month, at least two other instances of crime around Bowen were reported to PSafe, according to its daily crime logs. 

In a Sept. 14 email to Bowen researchers obtained by the ‘Prince,’ Norman shared three instances of alleged crime that occurred this month: a ripped-out and missing camera, a stolen laptop, and a dislodged fridge with “a clear attempt to open” it. It is unclear whether these incidents were each reported to PSafe. 

Former PMI postdoc Marco Rupp GS added that he lost three bikes parked around Bowen and the E-Quad in a series of incidents that began at the end of May.

“For five years — I kid you not — nothing ever happened,” Rupp, who left his position at Princeton a week ago, told the ‘Prince.’ “And then within like two and a half months, they were all gone.” 

Rupp said that he did not install locks on the three bikes or file public safety reports for each of the incidents. 

Since the Sunday incident, Hayashi said that additional security measures were implemented around Bowen. Public Safety is conducting patrols outside the building, and “from a lab standpoint, we are more strict on locking all doors outside of working hours,” Hayashi said. 

“I think you’ve got to be careful there [in Bowen] because during the day, I know that the buildings are unlocked; anybody can go in and out,” Rupp said. 

When a ‘Prince’ reporter visited Bowen around noon on Monday, the doors to the building remained accessible without a University ID card. 

“In the meantime, I urge everybody to always lock office and lab doors (some of them were not locked, and in one instance this is where some damag[e] occurred),” Norman wrote in the email addressing the Sunday incident. 

Norman cautioned against allowing unauthorized people to access secured doors in the building and warned researchers to be “extra vigilant.” 

University spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss declined to comment on the specifics of campus security arrangements on campus, citing that “doing so could reduce the effectiveness of our security program.”  

In the spring of 2023, University Facilities began a camera expansion project that installed cameras near entrances of residential buildings. The project was the subject of opposition from students over privacy and equity concerns, alongside a lack of communication around the installations. The project has concluded, according to the Princeton Facilities website. 

Under the University’s Security Camera Recording and Retention Policy, cameras can be installed on “exteriors of high security buildings, including laboratories” and “rooms and labs containing high value equipment or information.”

“It kind of becomes difficult on what we need to do, because there were conversations of incorporating cameras,” Hayashi said. “Then it becomes an issue of privacy and whatnot — but if it is an actual inside job, then we can’t prevent it unless we do have cameras in place.” 

Sena Chang is the associate News editor for the ‘Prince’ leading investigations. She is from Japan and South Korea, and she often covers local politics and student life. She can be reached at sena[at]dailyprincetonian.com.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.